Indian boxing review at Asian Games: Time to punch above their weight

Earning four quota places and five medals in boxing, including a silver and four bronze, may appear to be a decent performance in the Hangzhou Asian Games, but keen followers of the sport would have liked to see the 13-member team fare better in the continental event.

After a thorough preparation, which included two multi-nation camps and customised training for individual boxers keeping in mind the challenges they might face, five medals, including one from the seven male boxers, are perhaps a little short of the satisfactory mark. Even though it was more than double that of the two medals the country’s boxers bagged in 2018, the fact that the Indians returned without a gold medal in 13 years would hurt the boxing lovers as well.

It was a fine show from the country’s women boxers, who achieved their best-ever haul of four medals (including a silver and three bronze) and as many quota places for Paris 2024. After failing to open their account in Bangkok in the previous edition, it was a welcome relief for the women, whose previous best showing in the Asiad was three medals in 2014, when the iconic multiple world champion and Olympic bronze medallist M.C. Mary Kom led the pack with a spectacular gold. Considering the talent pool and experience, the medal haul in Hangzhou was on expected lines.

World champions Nikhat Zareen (50kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) claimed a bronze and a silver, respectively, to underline their class at another high-level competition. They would have liked to finish atop the podium, though.

Nikhat, who got past Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Tam and Korea’s Bak Chorong with an identical 5-0 scoreline and outclassed Jordan’s Hanan Nassar through a RSC decision, would have liked to have a little bit of luck against Thai boxer Chuthamat Raksat in the semifinals (where she lost 3-2) to land a medal of better colour.

Lovlina, who recorded fine 5-0 wins over Korea’s Seong Suyeon and Thailand’s Baison Manikon in the last four before being beaten by Chinese Li Qian in the title clash, would do well to step up aggression inside the ring in order to live up to her ‘animal’ tag and achieve greater glory. The inexperienced Preeti Pawar (54kg) secured her maiden major medal, while Parveen Hooda (57kg) justified her decision to come down from 63kg by earning a podium finish.

Young Arundhati Choudhary (66kg), who shifted to a lower weight division, and the experienced Jaismine Lamboria (60kg) returned empty-handed and must fix their shortcomings to shine brighter in future events.

Commonwealth Games and Asian Championships medallist Jaismine, who lost to North Korean Won Ungyong via RSC after winning the first round in a roller-coaster quarterfinal match, must do some introspection and improve her strength to tackle tougher opponents.

Super heavyweight boxer Narender Berwal (+92kg) was the lone medallist among the seven male boxers in the fray. The soft-spoken Berwal utilised his immense power as he knocked out Kyrgyzstan’s Oomatbek Elchoro-Uulu and beat Iran’s Iman Ramezanpour 5-0 before suffering a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Kazakhstan’s Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Kamshybek Kunkabayev in the semifinals. But he can still do better by boxing more confidently and executing his blows more freely.

Narender sprung a surprise even as reputed names such as Worlds medallists Deepak Bhoria (51kg), Nishant Dev (71kg) and Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) could not achieve the desired result.

Bhoria would do well to learn from his pre-quarterfinal loss to Japanese Tomoya Tsuboi and display more dominating performances to leave nothing to chance. Nishant’s old issue of procrastination in landing his powerful punches pulled him down.

Thapa again had a tough draw and faced an early roadblock. The same was the case with former Asian champion Sanjeet (92kg).

Sachin Siwach (57kg) showed promise but was unlucky, while Lakshya Chahar (80kg) perished due to his inexperience.

Chief coach C.A. Kuttappa stresses the need for more focused work apart from a bit of talent-hunting in the run-up to the next Olympic qualifier in February.

“Some of the boxers need to listen to the coaches’ advice from the ringside. We may have to change a few things in our training, with an emphasis on technique and tactics. Also, we may look for talented boxers during the national championships. If needed, we may do some talent hunting ahead of the next qualifier,” said Kuttappa. India’s coaching staff, under the leadership of high performance director Bernard Dunne, would be keen to make the most of the next Olympic qualifier—the first World Qualification Tournament in Busto Arsizio, Italy (February 29 to March 12, 2024), which offers four quota places each for all the men’s weight divisions. It will also offer three slots for women’s 60kg and four for 66kg, where India has yet to secure its Olympic representation.

One can expect the country’s boxing team to reorganise itself in order to win an impressive number of quota places for the Paris Games.

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